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21st Century Threats to Worker Health and Safety
John Howard, MDDirectorNational Institute for OccupationalSafety and Health (NIOSH)
First Industrial Revolution
Uses water and steam power to mechanize production
Second Industrial Revolution
Uses electric power to create mass production
Third Industrial Revolution
Uses electronics to automate production
Fourth Industrial Revolution
Use physical entities controlled by digital algorithms using artificial intelligence
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Industrial Revolutions
Emerging Technologies:
RoboticsAdvanced Manufacturing
Model we use to describe how a robot works is as follows: The robot senses, the robot thinks, and the robot acts …
How? Sensing is done through interpretation of data from environmental
sensors. Thinking is done through the use of forms of artificial intelligence or AI. Acting is done through: Effectors for robots operating in physical space Decisions for intelligent assets operating in digital space
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Theory of the Robot
Superior Performance Robot workers are simply better than people at some tasks (mundane, repetitive, and
precise jobs) With perfect memories, Internet connectivity, and high-powered processors for data
analysis, robots can also provide informational support beyond any human capability
Managerial Promise Robots can be placed in management positions where they can remind a team of
deadlines, procedures, and progress
Operational Cost Reduction Permanent employees cost a lot of money—30 to 40% more than salary Costs barely $8 an hour to use a robot for spot welding in the auto industry, compared to
$25 for a worker—and the gap is only going to widen.
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Organizational Profile
Sensing
Enabling capabilities increasing exponentially Improvements in measurement science Readily available geographic and spatial information locators Miniaturization of sensing instruments Promising technical solutions increasing the quality, reliability, and economic
efficiency of technical products
Types of Sensors Placeables - Ground, air, water environments, in-vehicle monitors Wearables - Clothing, hard hats Implantables - Ingested and transcutaneous
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Sensor Technology Is Expanding
OMO (online-merge-of-offline) Combining our digital and physical worlds such that every object in our surrounding
environment will become a data input for the Internet
Sensors are at the heart of the Industrial Internet Deploying sensors, entire workplace and everyone in it become data input sources Workplace sensors become intelligent assets operating in physical and virtual space
Sensor improvements can be easily uploaded to the cloud Immediate and universal sensor connectivity Universal sensor upgradability
Cloud-based sensor data inputs Occupational data analytics Use of AI to support risk decision making Occupational professional as data scientist
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Internet of Things (IoT)
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Cell Tower
Sensor
SensorSensor
Sensor
Sensor
Gateway
Server
ConveyorControl
-
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Advanced Fabrics—Wearable Sensors
Thinking
Central idea Represents reality using a mathematical function that an algorithm (stepwise
procedure) does not know in advance, but can guess after seeing some data.
Origin 1956 Dartmouth College workshop computer scientists predicted that machines that
could reason as well as humans would require, at most, a generation to come about. We think of this as “General AI.”
They were wrong and several AI winters followed. And then in the 2010s, AI exploded because of the wide availability: GPUs that make parallel processing even faster, cheaper, and more powerful Practically infinite storage capacity Flood of data (big data)
Artificial Intelligence
U.S. Government and AI
https://www.whitehouse.gov/ai/
November 2018, the U.S. Department of Commerce proposed new restrictions on the export of AI technologies, including neural networks and deep learning, natural language processing, computer vision, and expert systems.
Representative Technology Categories Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning technology, such as: Neural networks and deep learning Computer vision (e.g., object recognition, image understanding); Expert systems (e.g., decision support systems, teaching systems); Speech and audio processing (e.g., speech recognition and production); and Natural language processing (e.g., machine translation).
AI cloud technologies; and Quantum information and sensing technology (among others).
U.S. Government: AI Lockdown
Acting
Commercial Types of Robots Traditional industrial robots Fixed in location Humans and robots are separated from
each other Collaborative robots Designed to work together with humans
Service robots Autonomous ground vehicles Unmanned aerial vehicles Household service robots
Social robots Detect and express human emotion Act as companions
Wearable robotics Exoskeletons and exosuits
Traditional Industrial Robots Decades of safety experience
Used since the 1970s in auto manufacturing industry
Safety measures that keep human workers separated from robot workers is standard
Collaborative Robots (Cobots)
Collaborative Robots: Challenge Designed to work alongside human
workers.
Controlled by human workers, by an algorithm, or by both.
Equipped with sensors designed to stop robot when contact with human worker occurs.
Grasping a previously unknown object, one for which a 3D model is not available, is the biggest challenge.
Service Cobots
Move alongside, and in shared space, with human workers
Service Robots Automated Ground Robots Currently operate in less controlled
environments May include human workers and
manned vehicles Agriculture, mining and
manufacturing Public roads and highways
Service Robots: Autonomous Ground Vehicles Mining
Service robots used by Rio Tinto in Pilbara, Western Australia No coffee breaks, fatigue and driver changeovers. Stops only once a day for refueling.
Autonomy enables drilling to run for almost a third longer on average than with manned rigs, and to churn through 10% more ground meters/hour.
Engineers at Rio’s operations center in Perth (2-hour flight away) remotely control the trucks.
Workforce at the mine is already about one-third lower as a result of autonomy of the trucks.
Service Robots: Truck Platoons Safety With the following trucks braking immediately, with
zero reaction time, platooning can improve traffic safety.
Cost Platooning is also a cost-saver as the trucks drive
close together at a constant speed. This means lower fuel consumption and CO2 emissions.
Efficiency Platooning efficiently boosts traffic flows, thereby
reducing tail-backs. Meanwhile the short distance between vehicles means less space taken up on the road.
Self-Driving Vehicle Challenge: Computer Vision
You cannot write algorithms that anticipate every possible scenario a self-driving car might encounter.
That’s the value of deep learning; it can learn, adapt, and improve.
Service RobotsUnmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)
Recreational
Public Commercial
Military
UAV Uses in Construction
Monitoring Inspection
Maintenance Hazardous Applications
Engineering Errors in the drone’s mechanics (e.g., loose connections across parts, faulty
electronics and sensors).
Human Errors in programming, interfacing peripheral equipment, and connecting
input/output sensors resulting in unpredicted movement or action by the drone; Errors in judgment resulting from “over-attributing” to autonomous robots more
human-like qualities and capabilities; Errors in remote operating.
Environmental Unstable flying conditions, extreme temperature, poor sensing in difficult weather or
lightning conditions leading to incorrect responses.
Sources of Risk from UAVs
Social Robots Pepper is a humanoid robot by Aldebaran Robotics and SoftBank Mobile
designed with the ability to read emotions. An emotional robot. Available in February 2015 at a base price of $1,931.
Pepper's emotion comes from the ability to analyze expressions and voice tones.
Exoskeletons and Exosuits Wearable technologies designed to amplify the
human musculoskeletal system to improve physical performance.
Value extends across industrial sectors, and includes: Warfighter Augments movements Increases lifting capacity
Industrial worker Increases lifting capacity Patient lifting?
Amputee Enhances medical rehabilitation
Make power source light enough to work at human scale.
A 150-pound human worker intending to carry 200 additional pounds, would put the exoskeleton in the 650-pound range, so a fully loaded package would weigh about 1,000 pounds.
Lowering the battery weight is the quickest way to shrink the weight of the total assembly—a great deal of battery power would be expended in simply carrying the battery and a frame sufficiently robust to support the battery.
Training a human to leave part of the task to a machine, and not to overthink the exoskeleton relationship is a musculoskeletal safety challenge.
Exoskeleton Challenge: Weight
Potential Expand dangerous work done by robots Robotic systems augment workers’ abilities
Concerns Likely increase in robot-related human injuries New types of robots will require refined and new protection strategies Robot with dynamic machine learning capabilities can challenge static safety procedures
Rapid advances in technology will outpace guidance/standards setting Stress associated with changing workplace and potential for human worker
displacement
Robotics & Safety
Estimated 3,730 Robot Injuriesin U.S., SOII 2003-2016
No.
Inju
ries
Tota
l Inj
urie
s (m
illio
ns)
0.0
1.0
2.0
3.0
4.0
5.0
6.0
0
100
200
300
400
500
ANSI/RIA Robotic Safety Standards ANSI/RIA R15.06-2012 American National Standard for Industrial Robots
and Robot Systems—Safety Requirements Approved March 28, 2013 Revision of ANSI R15.06-1999
Provides guidelines for the manufacture and integration of industrial robots and robot systems Emphasis on their safe use, the importance of risk
assessment and establishing personnel safety. Key feature in the standard is “collaborative operation”
Robot Ethics Two cars sinking in the water
Detective Del Spooner (Will Smith)
Young girl, Sarah
Robot could save only one of them, Spooner yells “Save the girl!”
Probability of survival for Spooner was 45%
Probability of survival for Sarah was 11%
Robot saved Spooner; girl drowned.
Welcome to the Moral Machine! A platform for gathering a human perspective on moral decisions made by machine intelligence, such as self-driving cars.
We show you moral dilemmas, where a driverless car must choose the lesser of two evils, such as killing two passengers or five pedestrians. As an outside observer, you judge which outcome you think is more acceptable. You can then see how your responses
compare with those of other people.
"I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that"
The Special Case of Manufacturing
Nanotechnology Advanced Materials Biotechnology Additive Manufacturing 3D Printing Digitalization and advanced computing Artificial Intelligence Sensing Technology Modeling and Simulation Robotics
Suite of Emerging Technologies in Advanced Manufacturing
Additive ManufacturingPlastic, Metal or Living Tissue
Techniques (metal powder + laser) Material extrusion Material jetting Binder jetting Sheet lamination Vat photopolymerization Powder bed fusion Directed energy deposition
Advantages Increases efficiency Eliminates final assembly Promotes customization over mass production Democratizes manufacturing Facilitates open design Creates novel tort liabilities?
Desktop 3D Printing
• Devices are readily available
• Multiple polymer strands available
• Custom ‘at home’ strand compounding (DIY)
• Prices dropping, units getting larger
Industrial 3D Printing
Example: 3D Rocket Printing Fuel tank produced in days with
additive manufacture
Traditional (subtractive) manufacture in one year
Laser-printed rocket engine and fuel tank tested 85 times at NASA facility in Mississippi without failure
Additive Manufacturing Risks
Changes in the process of manufacturing: Customization Reduction in parts Reduction in time spent on production
How designers go about their work What factory looks like Where production is located What production workers do Way business agreements are structured What work arrangements are used What risks workers face
Advanced Manufacturing EffectsRetooling of American Manufacturing?
Key Technologies Enabling the Future
Source: OECD (2017a)
Additive Manufacturing(3D Printing)
Autonomous Machines and
Systems
Human-Machine
Integration
Simulations
Big Data
Artificial Intelligence
CloudComputing
System Integration
Internet of Things
Thank You